Shouto's Starting Line
by Just Mila
Summary: Shouto visits his mother at the hospital.


Wordlessly, Shouto closed the door behind him.

Somehow, he managed to get out a polite "Good morning.", but it was too formal. Too distant. Much like the emotional space between him and her.

"You're early today."

It was a statement, to which Shouto couldn't say anything save for a pathetic low "Sorry."

She turned away to look back out the window, with a quiet "Mm."

Shouto stayed where he was by the door, unmoving. This mission of his was difficult but it had been his choice to pursue it. It may very well have been the first — and so far, the only — big decision he'd made regarding his life. Everything else had been arranged and orchestrated by _that_ man. His old man, his father, the number two hero, Endeavor.

Endeavor was the reason he was here in this predicament in the first place. Shouto didn't want to spend his life doing everything because of Endeavor, like training under him and pursuing heroics, but this was different.

This was his mother. Shouto was _not_ going to let that man — especially his ego — ruin his relationship with his mother. Shouto — and his mother — had already been deprived of it for eleven long years. He was going to mend their relationship, restore them, back to the way they were. Before everything went downhill.

But to do that, he needed to take the first step. So, he did.

Shouto made his way over to the empty seat across from the woman who once long ago used to be his mother. She had turned her gaze to a spot on the floor between them, avoiding his eyes. For that, Shouto didn't blame her. Not anymore.

For the longest time, neither of them said anything. Sat across from each other mirroring each other, both staring at the floor, they did look like mother and son.

Shouto knew he had to break the ice, say _something_ , start _somewhere_. But he didn't know how or where to start. This was only the second time he'd come to see her, and even then, the last time was a week ago, after the sports festival. Between then and now, even more had changed in him. They had had their internships.

"H— How was your week?"

His mother's voice, although barely audible, snapped Shouto back to reality and he looked up at her. Her shoulders were hunched and her head ducked even lower than before. She was wringing her hands, and Shouto heard a sound reminiscent of a whimper.

She was scared, of him, just like she was when she threw that boiling water at him all those years ago, just like she was last week. It made his blood boil that she still saw _that_ man in him, even after all those years.

But he didn't let it show on his face; he was here to make things better, not worse.

So he swallowed his anger and answered her question with a soft and low voice, so as not to worsen her impression of him, if that was even possible.

"We, um, had our internships this week."

She hesitated before speaking.

"Yes, I—" another pause, "I heard about … the — um, incident … in Hosu City."

Of course she knew; that incident was plastered all over the news right now. How could she _not_ know?

But how was he supposed to talk about his internship? What was he supposed to say? Yeah, I interned under Endeavor and he came to our rescue? Iida went to pick a fight with Hero Killer Stain so Midoriya and I backed him up and the Endeavor story is just a cover up?

Shouto did consider telling her the truth. Maybe it would help them heal. She wasn't leaving any time soon so who would she share it with? In his head Shouto went through every upside there was with telling his mother the truth about Hosu City. And—

"How are your —" she hesitated just long enough for it to be noticeable, "classmates doing? After everything … you all went through?"

And maybe if she had waited a fraction of a second longer before asking he might have told her the truth about Hosu City. But she didn't wait, so he didn't tell.

Instead, Shouto was much more comfortable with talking about Midoriya and Iida. After the incident in Hosu City, those three had formed a bond. And Shouto hadn't formed a bond with anyone in a long time. About ten years, to be more precise.

"Iida …" he started, "injured his arm pretty bad. But he'll be fine." The image of a paralysed Iida on the ground of that alley, crying for his brother and his friends coursed through his mind and Shouto wondered if he would ever be that close to his own brothers, or anyone at all really, to be brave enough to challenge a villain far beyond his league, out of nothing but love.

Once long ago he would have, for his mother, but now all Shouto was was distant and unsure.

"But Midoriya and me," Shouto continued, staring at his hand, clenching and unclenching his fist, remembering expressing his concern about being some kind of Hand Crusher, "we're fine."

His mother didn't say anything and Shouto didn't move his gaze away from his now still hand. Then, out of nowhere—

"You have my mother's smile."

Shouto looked up to see his mother looking at him instead of the ground. She was neither smiling nor frowning, but in her eyes he could see the faint reminiscent of the love she used to have for him eleven years ago. She was seeing her mother in him, instead of Endeavor.

"I—" Shouto tried to find the right words, "What?"

Her eyes softened and he hear in her voice the mother he had eleven years ago.

"You're smiling."

Shouto didn't realise it until she had said it; his hand went up to his mouth and — it was true; she was right. He was smiling. A genuine smile, not any of the fake ones he had mastered over the years. It was an unfamiliar sensation, and yet familiar. Much like the long forgotten, distant memories of a life with his mother.

The sincerity of it spread, and Shouto realised he was smiling because of—

"Your friends." She was almost smiling at him. Almost. "You get along with them, right?"

Shouto removed his hand from his face and managed a small "Yeah."

That was the first sentence she had said to him without quivering and hesitating.

The last time he had been here, Shouto had been the one trying to talk to her. But she had treated him like he was Endeavor — avoiding looking at him and giving only small, scared replies.

But now, she was talking to him, not to Endeavor's son, but to her own son, which relieved Shouto. It meant she wanted to heal the rift between them too.

And maybe a genuine smile and some small talk was barely anything to anyone else, but for them, it was a start. It was them starting to heal.

They talked more comfortably, hesitance slowly fading as time went on. Shouto told her about his classmates, about how despite sometimes coming off as too strong, Iida was always earnest, about how despite Bakugou's temper, he had admirably high standards for himself, about how despite getting into the school through recommendations like himself, Yaoyorozu had surprisingly little opinion of herself.

He told her about Fuyumi, about how much she loved teaching even though she came home exhausted every day, about how she taught him how to cook, little by little over the years, about how Fuyumi regularly kept him and his brothers in line, about how Fuyumi still couldn't eat strawberries, or anything strawberry flavoured.

She didn't smile once, but listened to him intently, which only strengthened Shouto's resolve to save her from this place.

Before leaving however, Shouto made sure to declare his intentions. That he was going to fix what Endeavor had done to them. That he was going to heal the rift between them. That he was going to bring her home.

She hadn't said anything back to any of it, but as Shouto turned around to open the door to leave, he was sure he had seen a hint of a smile on her lips.

And as Shouto headed home he knew, that someday he— no, they, would be okay. It would take a significant amount of time, and even more effort on both their parts, but if they pulled through, then they would make it okay.

Everything would be okay.


End file.
